United Nations Eritrea

The U.N. Security Council voted Monday to send as many as 100 military observers to Ethiopia and Eritrea as a first step toward a full-fledged peacekeeping operation in the rival Horn of Africa countries. Fighting broke out May 12 when Ethiopia launched an offensive into Eritrean territory. In Algiers in June, officials of the two governments agreed to a cease-fire.

The U.N. Security Council voted Monday to send as many as 100 military observers to Ethiopia and Eritrea as a first step toward a full-fledged peacekeeping operation in the rival Horn of Africa countries. Fighting broke out May 12 when Ethiopia launched an offensive into Eritrean territory. In Algiers in June, officials of the two governments agreed to a cease-fire.

The United Nations welcomed two new members Friday--Monaco, the playground principality nestled in the French Riviera, and Eritrea, the newly independent nation perched on Africa's northeast shoulder. Their formal admission by General Assembly acclamation raises the membership of the United Nations to 183. Monaco is the latest of several ministates to join the United Nations, although it has had U.N. observer status since 1955. Eritrea, with a population of about 3.

The United Nations welcomed two new members Friday--Monaco, the playground principality nestled in the French Riviera, and Eritrea, the newly independent nation perched on Africa's northeast shoulder. Their formal admission by General Assembly acclamation raises the membership of the United Nations to 183. Monaco is the latest of several ministates to join the United Nations, although it has had U.N. observer status since 1955. Eritrea, with a population of about 3.

The United Nations accused Eritrea of moving 1,500 troops and 14 tanks into a buffer zone established after a 2 1/2 -year border war with Ethiopia in "a major breach" of a cease-fire agreement reached in 2000. Eritrean troops also took over a U.N. checkpoint and forced a platoon of Jordanian peacekeepers to leave, U.N. officials said. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the Eritrean government to withdraw the troops immediately, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.